Comments on: Brian Barrett, Foundry Foreman https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/05/04/brian-barrett-foundry-foreman-i/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Thu, 04 May 2023 08:58:29 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: Annie S https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/05/04/brian-barrett-foundry-foreman-i/#comment-1508605 Thu, 04 May 2023 08:58:29 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195606#comment-1508605 Thanks, that’s really interesting!
I have passed by that place many times to start a walk along the canal but knew nothing of the history and the work that is done there.

]]> By: Bailey Jones https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/05/04/brian-barrett-foundry-foreman-i/#comment-1508604 Thu, 04 May 2023 08:53:43 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195606#comment-1508604 This blog brought back memories. My husband worked in a foundry – a huge British Rail foundry, part of a huge set of engineering workshops – as a young man in the late 70s and early 8Os. He often worked one of the cranes above the fiery furnaces. It was hard, dangerous work and at least one person was killed while my husband worked there. The fires burned night and day and the men worked regular night and day shifts. When it became cheaper to get rails and the fitments that secured the sleepers to the rails from other suppliers, the factory closed in the mid 80s. The local economy was badly shaken as Horwich Loco Works was a valuable source of employment for men from Bolton, Horwich, Westhoughton and Wigan. The operation was on a much greater and less artisan scale than J Hoyles and Sons. It is great to read that this East End Foundry is still going strong.

When I first saw the photograph of Brian, I thought it was a painting. The composition and the colours have the quality of a painting and some of the shots of the inside of the factory like wise.

]]> By: Rick Armiger https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/05/04/brian-barrett-foundry-foreman-i/#comment-1508603 Thu, 04 May 2023 08:34:06 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195606#comment-1508603 a magnificent post in every respect

]]> By: Jill Wilson https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/05/04/brian-barrett-foundry-foreman-i/#comment-1508596 Thu, 04 May 2023 05:46:02 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=195606#comment-1508596 Absolutely agree that there is great dignity and satisfaction in doing jobs which make the hands dirty… Mine are never really clear of paint (currently various shades of blue!) or glue or plaster but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

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